


Under the Influence

by honestgrins



Series: To Rely on the Kindness of Strangers [47]
Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-06
Updated: 2016-08-06
Packaged: 2018-07-29 20:06:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7697761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honestgrins/pseuds/honestgrins
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt from themikaelsoncupcake: Ah/Au: Klaus has to go to the dentist but he's secretly scared of the dentist and asks Caroline with him, Klaus has to get anaesthetic, after the trip to the dentist Caroline is driving home and because Klaus is all like droopy and starts confessing his feelings for Caroline because he's doesn't realise it's her in the car with him :D</p>
            </blockquote>





	Under the Influence

Sitting at the kitchen table, Caroline kept her focus on the newspaper and ignored his persistent staring.

"You're not still mad at me, love?"

She primly picked up her last piece of toast, crunching it audibly between her teeth. The noisy retort was all Klaus was going to get in response, he was sure. "I said I was sorry."

Caroline threw down her toast to glare at him. "You knew exactly what you were doing when you put the empty milk carton back in the fridge," she accused. "Now I'm eating toast instead of my favorite cereal, the lucky cereal I eat before every quarterly meeting. You're seriously the worst roommate ever."

Sighing, Klaus stood to clean his own plate. Caroline was a superstitious sort, and he had inadvertently spooked her before an important presentation by forgetting to replace the milk when he finished it. The fact that he also broke one of the house rules, a handy document she had gifted him when he first moved in, by not disposing of the container properly was doubly damning.

Hence, the silent treatment he had been receiving all morning.

Desperate to change the subject, Klaus figured he might as well bring up his own issue of the day. "I have to go to the dentist this afternoon," he said, cringing. He had always hated the dentist, one of those childhood horrors he hadn't been able to overcome. Only his siblings knew how deep that fear ran, though, which is why he took great pains to keep it to himself as an adult; they never failed to tease him mercilessly. "They finally scheduled that root canal."

Finally, Caroline softened her posture. "Not fun," she sympathized, smiling encouragingly. "I'll pick up some pudding after work, when I stop to get milk."

Klaus's brow furrowed. "Can't you leave a bit early, to pick me up?"

"I can't," she insisted. "The quarterly meeting! Which is why I needed the milk for my lucky cereal!"

Groaning, Klaus wished he hadn't brought their conversation back to that. "I said I'm sorry," he reminded her. He winced, knowing who he'd have to ask next. "I suppose Rebekah would be free to drive me."

"That's perfect," Caroline agreed, quickly washing her dishes so she could rush out the door. "I have to go, but call her soon. Good luck this afternoon!"

"Same to you, love," he called, less enthusiastic about their tasks. Caroline was getting to prove her skills to the company she dedicated herself to, while he had to beg his baby sister for a ride to the dentist without the teasing he knew came naturally to her.

It was going to be a long day.

* * *

"Come on, Nik, I don't have all day!"

Klaus reluctantly locked up the house as his sister impatiently waited in her car. When he finally settled into the passenger seat, her angry expression had turned smug. "Are you ready for the dentist, dear brother?"

Opening his mouth to snap at her, he quickly bit his tongue when he noticed his niece sitting in her carseat. "Excited," he deadpanned, realizing he had to be a good role model. "Hello, Maggie."

"Hi, Uncle Nik!"

At only two, Maggie had a slight speech impediment with the letter L, but Klaus appreciated her infectious enthusiasm. He sent her a wink before turning to her mother. "I didn't realize this was a family trip."

"I'm a stay at home mother, Nik," Rebekah pointed out as she pulled into the street. "Where did you think Maggie would be?"

"With her father," he answered with an irritated shrug.

His agitated state was no mystery to his sister. "Enzo is at the same quarterly meeting I'm sure Caroline has been ridiculously nervous about," Rebekah explained blithely. Her husband, who worked with Caroline, had been buzzing about the house all week. "Their boss apparently promised raises if the meeting went well. But that's not what your problem, is it?"

"Problem?" Maggie asked, her pout as much concern as Klaus was likely to receive in this car.

"Uncle Nik is scared of the dentist, darling."

"Bekah!" Klaus glared before sending Maggie a reassuring smile. "The dentist isn't scary, sweetheart."

She just laughed. "Mine gives mints if you have good teeth," she said, grinning widely to show off her own. "See?"

"Very good," Klaus answered, though still annoyed with his sister smirking next to him. "Must you enjoy this so much?"

Rebekah shook out her hair, the pin-straight mane hitting his shoulder. "It's my divine right as a sibling," she declared. "Honestly, braces weren't the worst thing to happen to you."

"Says you," he muttered, squirming. It wasn't so much the braces that were traumatizing as the appointment after they were removed; his dentist determined his orthodontist to be incompetent, and referred him to another for more braces to fix the worsened problem.

They were the worst four years of his adolescence, and he absolutely refused to go through that again. It was only fair to be skittish around dental professionals after his ordeal.

"Relax," she chided, though it was warmer than expected. She must have noticed how rattled he was. "Maggie and I will drop you off, make a quick trip to the library, then pick you up like nothing happened. Everything will be fine."

Klaus wasn't so sure.

* * *

The nurse had to help him into the car, worried that his bad reaction to the anesthetic would cause him to hit his head if he wasn't careful.

"It's okay," a familiar voice said, buckling him into the passenger seat. "You're okay."

All Klaus could really see was the pin-straight blonde hair in his eyes. His vision was still blurry, though he couldn't do anything but smile. "These drugs are excellent."

Laughter rang out as the nurse explained what had happened. "The procedure went fine, but we already had to sedate him before we could work."

"He doesn't like the dentist," the woman said.

It must have been Rebekah, which meant Klaus had to straighten up for Maggie. He struggled to seem sober, wagging a finger over his shoulder to the seat behind him. "Drugs are bad. Just say no."

"Yes," the nurse drawled amusedly. "Anyway, he was more difficult to wake than expected, and it's probably best for him to sleep this off."

"Understood, thank you," the blonde answered before getting into the driver's seat. Pulling away from the medical complex, she squeezed his arm. "How are you feeling?"

With a deep breath, Klaus's head lolled to the side. "I'm...dizzy."

"We'll get you home and into bed," she said. "Would that help you feel better?"

"No," Klaus answered miserably. "Caroline is angry with me, and I'll just be a worse roommate if she has to take care of me."

Stifling a giggle, she squeezed his arm again. "I bet she's happy to take care of you, she loves you."

"I love her," he whispered, like he was telling a secret. "I love her so much, and she doesn't even know. How did I fall in love with my best friend, Bekah?" He was whining, but that's what heartsickness did to a man. "I know she's the greatest girl in the world-sorry, Maggie," he added with an uncoordinated jerk of his head. "I mean, Caroline's the best, but she's with Tyler."

"They broke up, remember?" She stroked his arm, comforting him as she drove.

"How could anyone break up with Caroline?" His voice was the pinnacle of disbelief. "I mean, she's a bossy little thing, sure, but it's hard to argue with her results. A little bossiness is to be expected with a perfectionist. She's perfect."

"She's not perfect," she scoffed. "And she broke up with him, because she was in love with someone else."

Klaus groaned in defeat. "Oh, no," he mourned. "Another one? I'm never going to marry her at this rate."

"You want to marry her?"

He hummed in agreement, as though it were obvious. "I love her, want to have her babies."

Chuckling, she pulled into the driveway. "We're here. You'll get some sleep, then you can tell Caroline all of this when you wake up."

"Okay," he sighed, waiting for her to help him out of the car. "Thank you, Bekah. But shhhhh, don't tell Caroline. It needs to be perfect, she'll expect nothing less. And I intend to impress."

* * *

Caroline turned to tuck Klaus in, only to find he had sprawled across the bed in the few seconds she took to get some pajamas for him to sleep in. Given his light snoring, she figured it wasn't worth the effort to undress him. Instead, she just pulled off his shoes and covered him with a light blanket from the armchair.

Sitting next to him, she stroked the hair back from his forehead. She had no idea he was so scared of the dentist, a fact well and truly hidden until Rebekah called after dropping him off. Apparently, Klaus's nerves were worse than usual, and even his sister was worried.

Once she knew the full extent of the situation, Caroline quickly begged off work. Thankfully, she and Enzo had finished their presentation just before Rebekah called, and Caroline had no qualms about passing the buck to Enzo for the rest of the meeting. When a badly drugged Klaus was escorted into her car, she knew she made the right decision.

"You silly, proud man," she whispered, pressing a kiss to his cheek. "I'm so telling you everything you said when you wake up. Maybe I'll even give you that chance to impress me."

With a smirk, Caroline left her husband to sleep off the trip to the dentist.


End file.
